Establishing allies in Washington

The presidential election, of course, isn’t the only ongoing political race in Washington. A number of House and Senate seats are up for grabs this fall, and those races have the attention of the National Propane Gas Association’s (NPGA) PropanePAC, which raises money to support legislators who support the propane industry’s interests.

“We want to defend those who have gone out of the way to support our industry,” says Peter Ferrell, NPGA’s director of political and industry affairs, who manages the PAC. “These are personal investments made to make sure our issues are understood. Over the years, making personal investments [in Congress] is good if you want to defend your own investments.”

This year, NPGA is particularly focused on Senate races and propane proponents who may be affected, Ferrell says.

“We’re really looking at certain folks who have been really helpful to our industry, including those who tried to get legislation passed for the PERC (Propane Education & Research Council) fix,” says Ferrell, referring to a Department of Commerce restriction that was lifted, impacting PERC’s consumer outreach efforts.

Ferrell stresses that PropanePAC is a bipartisan organization. He also says he has tried to make the PAC more inclusive of propane advocates.

“More is good when it comes to contributions,” he says, “but we don’t want to make the PAC something that is considered a program only big spenders can belong to. There’s distrust in Washington and distrust in politics. Politics isn’t something the fat cats are strictly involved with. Ours is a program where you don’t have to spend a ton of money. It takes a drip approach of fundraising.”